1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical image system.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, medical image management apparatuses which import medical images generated by various types of image generation apparatuses and which store the imported medical images in image DBs (Data Bases) to manage them are used in the medical field (see JP 2010-124943).
In a system including such medical image management apparatus (server apparatus) and client terminals, at a client terminal, logging in to the system is performed in the login screen and a patient who is the target for image capturing is selected among the patients who went through the reception that day in the patient list screen, and then, the screen shifts to the image display screen of the patient who is target for image capturing. When the image import button in the image display screen is pushed, the image generation apparatus corresponding to the image import button and the medical image management apparatus are to be in the online state, and the medical image management apparatus is to be on standby for image import from the image generating apparatus. When image capturing is performed with respect to the patient who is target for image capturing is performed, the medical image generated by the image generation apparatus is imported in to the medical image management apparatus. Then, at the client terminal, a doctor makes a diagnosis on the medical image which is imported in to the medical image management apparatus.
However, in order to prevent mistaking of images, an exclusive control is applied in the medical image management apparatus so as not to accept pushing of the image import button with respect to the image generation apparatus from other client terminals when the image generation apparatus is in the online state according to the instruction (pushing of the image import button) from a certain client terminal. Therefore, there is a problem that the image generation apparatus cannot be used when the image import button is pushed at different client terminals.
Especially, due to mobile terminals, such as tablet type terminals, which perform data communication via wireless LAN (Local Area Network) being used more and more as the client terminals, the possibility that an image be left as-is in a certain client terminal after the image generation apparatus is made to be in the online state is increasing. For example, situations such like bad communication between a client terminal and the medical image management apparatus due to malfunction of the Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) router, the screen returning to the login screen due to session timeout, a user closing the browser, a user taking the client terminal home and the like can be considered.